Removable self-fastening button.



PATENTED OCT. 24, 1905.

0. C. SCHULZ.

REMOVABLE SELF PASTENING BUTTON.

APPLICATION FILED DECJQ, 1904.

UNITE STATES PATENT FlflE.

oTTo o. SCHULZ, or CHICAGO, i'LLiNois.

servici/ABLE eELF-FAsTENlNe BUTTON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

` Patented Oct. 24, 1905.

Application filed December 19, 1904. Serial No. 237,451.

T all 'wh/0791, it may concern:

Be it known that 1,()T'ro C. SCHULZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new, useful, and Improved Removable Self-Fastening Button, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to buttons of the class which may be instantaneously applied to clothing and which dispense with thread-stitching.

The object of my invention is to provide a button which shall more nearly than heretofore combine the advantages of so-called bachelor-buttons and buttons which are sewed fast to the cloth. To this end I have designed a clasp-button which provides a plurality of protected metal stitches, pins, or prongs, which not only take the place of ordinary thread-stitches, but. provide a firmer engagement of the parts than is ordinarily attained by buttons of this class and also provides a construction which is not limited to my invention.

one or two supports in the cloth Corresponding to the stitches through a button and fabric.

My invention contemplates a device adaptable for from two to six or possibly more prongs, pins, or metal stitches; and it consists of the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the drawings, and pointed out in the Claims.

ln the drawings, Figure 1 is an exterior view of a button body and clasp embodying Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section showing the Complete button secured to a piece of cloth. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a blank from which the pins or prongs and their supporting-disk are preferably formed. Fig. 5 is a bottom view of a modified form of prong' portion, the prongs being shown in section. Fig. 6 illustrates a modified form of prongs and support for same. Fig. 7 shows another modification of part of button, and Fig. 8 1s a view taken on line 8 8 of Fig. 7.

Referring' to the drawings, 2 represents the body of the button or shell, which is stamped out of sheet metal and comprises a cylindrical body having a bottom portion 3, in which are holes 4 4 for the prongs or pins 5 5 or 5' 5', projecting from the disk or base plate 6 or 6h The upper part of the casing 2 is formed with afiange 7, having a rounded perimeter or edge 7', and consists of a bent and rebent portion of the body 2. The rebent portion terminates in an upturned edge 8, which provides an annular V-shaped groove 8/, engaging the perimeter 9 of the head 10 of the inner clutch members or toothed bars 11. On the ends of the latter are hooks 12 12, engaging teeth 13 13 on the prongs or pins 5.

In Fig. 6 the prongsor pins 5 are shown as ordinary round pins 5', having shoulders 14 engaging one side of disk 6 and having' riveted heads 15 engaging' the opposite side of said disk. Teeth 13,corresponding to the teeth 13 in my preferred construction, are formed by notching the prongs or pins 5. The prongs 5 are preferably formed out of a blank shown in Fig. 4, wherein a disk 16, having prongblanks 18, is bent upon itself on line 17, and the prong portions 18 of the blank are then bent up at right angles to the plate 1G and formed curvate in cross-section, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5 and by dotted lines in Fig. 4. l/Vhile the parts shown on a large scale make the pins seem rather blunt or coarse` the plurality of prongs 5 or 5 enables me to make them much lighter or liner than where only one stud projects through the cloth and are therefore adapted to separate the fibers of the cloth without cutting them. lin the head 10 is a slot 19, adapted to engage a screwdriver, knife-point, or the like, whereby the parts 11 may be rotated to move the flanges or hooks 12 out of engagement with the teeth 13 and into the spaces 2O between said flanges to occupy positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, permitting separation of the two portions of the button shown in Fig. 1. Vlf it is desired, the flanges 12 may be rotated, for instance, in the direction of the arrows and placed in the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3 to admit insertion of prongs through the openings 4. In that case the prongs and flanges would be brought into engagement with each other by rotating the parts 11 instead of, as will usually be preferred, snapping the teeth 13 over the edges of the hooks 12. The latter method is more convenient and a quicker mode of operation.

It will be noted that the two parts of the button may be pressed together firmly against cloths of different thicknesses on account of each prong being' lprovided with a plurality of notches or teeth. This ad justability is a very essential feature in buttons of this class if they are' to acceptably take the place of buttons which are sewed fast to thc cloth. lVherc only one point of contact or engagement is provided, a button of this kind cannot adapt IOO IIC

itself to various thickness of fabric, nor will it be possible to clasp the upper and lower portions tightly against the cloth into such close contact that the frictional engagement of parts 3 and 6 will support the prong engagement and prevent tearing the cloth with said prongs. The absence of adjustability in the friction grip upon the cloth is one of the chief reasons why so-called "bachelor-buttons have failed to take the place of buttons fastened with thread and needle.

In Figs. 7 and 8 are shown modifications wherein the hooks 11 are replaced by a cylindrical body 11, which telescopes the cylindrical body 2. A circular flange 12 on the body 11 performs the same function as flanges or hooks 12. (Shown in Fig. 2.) Of course the single cylindrical body 11 is not yielding like the bars 11, and the prongs must therefore alone yield or spring sufiiciently to effect their engagement with flange 12. In the latter are a series of openings 20 20, which are of a width permitting passage of the pins 5 or 5 when said openings are rotated opposite the pins.

21, Fig. 2, represents a piece of cloth to which my button has been fastened.

Fig. 5 shows a modification wherein six instead of four prongs have been provided. Inasmuch as the inner and outer parts of the button may be clamped upon the cloth, as shown in Fig. 2, three or four toothed pins (corresponding to a usual number of stitchholes in an ordinary button) are ordinarily sufcient to secure the button firmly on the clothing. There six are provided, as in Fig. 5, the pins may be comparatively fine and their teeth correspondingly so, the increase in number of joints of engagement making up for the decrease in strength of each individual tooth.' There the buttons are to be used in connection with the finer fabrics, the larger number of line pins would be desirable. The button-head 10 is firmly held by the flange 9 against accidental rotation and consequent release of teeth 13 or 13. rIhe cylindrical outer shell of the button when the latter is clamped firmly upon the cloth receives all the wear from contact with the edges of a buttonhole or a suspender-loop. This wear is usually imposed upon the thread stitchings, which account for the ordinarily short life of sewed button-fastenings or the damage to buttonholes from bachelor-buttons, the two portions of which engage at one point only and which are therefore non-adjustable to different thicknesses of cloth. As a button of this class will last an indefinite length of time, the removability feature makes a button constructed in accordance with my invention available over and over again, thus reducing' very materially the cost of its aggregate service.

The operation of my invention will readily be apparent from the foregoing' description.

The prongs 5 or 5 are inserted from the inner side of the garment and pushed through the cloth. The upper portion 2 is then placed upon the prongs, and as the flanges 12 or 12 are over the openings 4l the points of the prongs will engage the inclines of said flanges and spring' the prongs slightly apart, clicking the teeth over the flanges or hooks until the lowest possible series of teeth have been engaged or greatest possible lengths of prongs shackled to the hooks on head 10. When it is desired to remove the button from the clothing, all that is necessary is to rotate the head 10 to move the flanges 12 or 12' out of engagement With the teeth 13, when the part 2 may be lifted from the lower portion 6 or 6 and prong 5 or 5. Only one point of berpenetrating part has usually been employed for buttons of this class, while my invention enables use of a number thereof, and it is obvious that four such prongs provide substantially four times the grip upon the cloth that one does regardless of the feature of adjustability, and the liability of damaging the cloth is only one-fourth that of a single-prong' arrangement.

lhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-u l. In a self-fastening button, the combination of a cylindrical body 2 having the apertured end 3 and folded flange 7 formed with the upturned edge 8 which provides the groove or recess 8 for the perimeter of the rotatable head 10 the head 10 held in said recess and closing one end of said cylindrical body, and the end 3 integral with said body and having apertures 4 for the series of prongs 5, and the disk 6 carrying said prongs, said head carrying a series of hooks adapted to interlock adjustably with said prongs.

2. In a self-fastening button the combination of a cylindrical body 2 having the apertured end 3 and flange 7, the latter formed to provide a groove 8, a rotatable head 10, forming the opposite end of said cylindrical body, provided with a screw-driver slot 19 and a series of hooks projecting into said cylindrical body with a disk 6 carrying prongs 5, said disk 6 and end 3 adapted to be interlocked at variable distances apart, by said hooks engaging different portions of said prongs, each of the latter having a series of teeth for that purpose.

3. In a self-fastening button a pair of tele scoping cylindrical bodies, one thereof having a head 10 held at its edges between folds of a flange 7 formed on the outer cylindrical body, the latter closed at one end by said head and closed at the opposite end by an apertured end 8, the curvate prongs 5, struck up from the disk 6, engaging the flanges 12, said inner cylindrical body having openings 20 permitting the disengagement of said teeth 13.

4. In a self-fastening button the combinaenter between said inner and outer oylin- 1o drioal body and to engage said flanges.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

OTTO C. SCHULZ. Witnesses:

E. R. BARRETT,

ISRAEL L. LANDIS. 

